Kommersant Head Quits Police Council

July 29, 2010

Kommersant editor-in-chief Mikhail Mikhailin announced Thursday that he was resigning from the Moscow police's public council because the police have failed to prosecute officers who broke a journalist's arm at an opposition rally.

Gazeta.ru reporter Alexander Artemyev was injured after he was detained in a police crackdown on an unsanctioned May 31 rally on Triumfalnaya Ploshchad.

A police investigation failed to determine who broke Artemyev's arm, so no one has been punished over the incident.

Mikhailin, former editor of Gazeta.ru, said he was left with the impression that “no one ever intended to identify the people who broke the journalist's arm,” Interfax reported.

He also accused the police of backtracking on a pledge to pay Artemyev's medical bills.

“My presence on the police public council has become absolutely pointless under the circumstances,” Mikhailin said.

The public council, comprised mostly of mass media representatives, was created in 2005 to improve dialogue between law enforcement officials and society.